Tie-branding apparatus



Dec. 14 1926.

G. B. SHIPLEY TIE -BRANDINGr APPARATUS Filed Dec. 1925 2 sheets-sheet 1 A INVENTOR M/Jf #M7 wlrNEssi-:s

P.. 2 t 0 .h R l S O N .l e E e. V h m S 2 S Uv Mw YR 9 il P. WA?, HG. C Sme .DD. Bmd .Re Gn EF I T Dec. 14 1926.

wn'NEssEs corporated machines during the initial fabrication Patented Dec. 14a, 1926.

unirse stares Parent ortica.

GRANT B, SHIPLEY, 0F ElTTSBURGT-I, PENNSYLVANIA.

TE-BRANDNG APPARATUS.

Application filed December 2, 1925. Serial No. 72,667.

This invention relates to apparatus for preparing ties, and particularly to a tie branding apparatus in combination with an adzing and boring machine.

In preparing ties, it is common practice to adZe or trim a portion at each side of the top face thereof to form appropriate seats for the rail supporting plates and to bore a plurality of holes at these points for receiving the attaching bolts. It is also common practice to stamp the ends of the ties with the date of suoli treatment for future reference in case ties become defective, or for other similar purposes. To avoid the neces e sity of removing the ballast at the ends of the ties after being placed upon the road bed in order to observe such stampings, it is highly desirable to locate such markings directly upon the top face of the ties, and intermediate the rails, so that the same may be readily seen without necessitating removal of ballast, and directly from an inspectors observation car passing over the tracks.

lt is an object of the invention to provide a combination adzing, boring and branding apparatus for ties, or similar articles, in which the branding is positioned at the top face of the tie intermediate its ends, and in which actuation of the boring heads carrying the drill gangs automatically bring the branding iron proper into play during the strokes of the boring heads.

It is a special object to provide such an apparatus in which the brander is carried directly by the boring heads and will be brought into contact with the tie and forcibly pressed into operative relation therewith during the boring action and without danger of breakage, or altering the ordinary functioning of the adzing and boring portions of the machine.

Other special objects are to provide a branding apparatus which may be easily inas a part of adzing and boring thereof, or added to existing machines of this kind already in use, and in which the heating of the branding element proper may be readily accomplished from a source of electricity without material alteration in the principal portions of the remaining parts.

These and other objects of the invention will more fully appear when taken in conjunction with the following description and the appended claims.

1n the accompanying drawings forming a part of the application, Fig. 1 is a fragmentary side elevation, with parts broken away and shown in section, illustrating the preferred embodimentof the invention; and F ig. 2 a fragmentary view, in end elevation, of the machine shown in Fig. 1.

Referring' to the drawings, 1, 1 designates a pair of spaced apart supporting guides upon which the successive ties, or similar articles, 2, 2, 2, 2 and 2 may ride during their passage through the machine from the inlet end 3 thereof to the opposite or delivery end adjacent the boring mecha-v nism. These guide rails may be supported in any suitable manner, the ends thereof adjacent the inlet 3, as shown, resting upon pedestals such as indicated at 4c.

The power shaft is indicated at 5, being suitably journaled in portions of the sidel frame of the machine or appropriate standards, not shown, which shaft has anchored thereto at spaced apart points the adzing drums 6, 6, equipped at their peripheries with the cutting knives 7 adapted to trim the face of the respective ties at the regions coming in contact therewith during the passage of the ties through the machine. This power shaft is suitably geared to a plurality of counter shafts 8, 9, 10 and 11, the latter shaft being journaled at its opposite ends in the standards 12, 12', at its intermediate part in a pair of auxiliary bearing standards 13, 13, and as illustrated in Fig. 2 has a belted connection ll directly with the shaft 5 The counter shafts,8, 9 and 10 are equipped with sprocket wheels for actuating a con-V veying mechanism for transferring the ties from the inlet to the discharge end of the machine. This conveying mechanism com prises two endless chain flights indicated generally at 15 and 16,v respectively, the end less chain of the flight 15 being twined around the sprocket wheels associated with the counter shafts 8 and 9 while the endless chains conveyor flight 16 is similarly twined around the sprocket wheels associated with the counter shafts 9 and 10, all as clearly shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. The cons veyor flight 15 is equipped, at suitably spaced intervals, with the contact lugs 17, adapted to strike the rear vertical face of the ties and force them forward upon the guide rails 1, 1 to a point slightly beyond the counter shaft 9. The conveyor flight 16 is likewise equipped with a series of contact lugs 18 adapted to contact the advancing ties in a similar manner and force them to a point slightly beyond the counter shaft 10, and in a position to be gripped by a holding mechanism, to be subsequently described, during the boring and branding operations.

The counter shaft 11 is made in two parts which terminate at a point between the auxiliary bearing standards 13, 13 and carry the two cooperating members of av clutch 19, the shift lever of which is indicated at 20, being fulcrumed as at 21. rlhe upper end of the shift lever 2O is connected to one arm of a bell crank pivoted at 22, while its other arm is pivoted to one end of an actuating lever 23 pivoted at 24, the free end of the lever 23lying in the path of-moveinent of a lug 25 fixed to and carried by one of the boring heads of the machine. The shifting lever 20 is also operatively connected through any suitable mechanism to a link 2G pivoted at its free end to a rochably mounted trip lever 27, the free end of which projects upwardly above the guide rails 1, 1 and directly in the path of movement of the ties riding thereupon when the clutch 19 is disengaged, depression of the free end of the trip lever 27 serving to engage the clutch.

Located at a point slight-ly beyond the counter shafts 10 and 11, and pivotally mounted upon any suitable fixed portion of the machine are pairs of cooperating gripping jaws 28, 28, which are adapted to be operated in timed relation with the other` portions of the machine by appropriate connections driven from any of the shafts of the machine. Since such mechanism forms no part of the present invention, exceptso far as it cooperates with t-he remaining parts of the machine, for the sake of clarity, the same has not been illustrated in greater detail. A pair of these jaws, as illustrated in Fig. 2, is located at the opposite sides of the apparatus and grip the ends of the tie projecting beyond the guide rails 1, 1.

Located at a point below the gripping jaws 28, 28', in substantial vert-ical alignment therewith, and in longitudinal alignment with the adzing drums 6, 6, are the boring heads 29, 29, boring head 29 being in alignment with the adzing drum 6 while the boring head 29 is in alignment with the adzing drum 6. Fixed to the boring head 29, and forming a unit-ary structure movable therewith is a motor 30, and as illustrated the motor is preferably of the electric type. Associated in like fashion with the boring head 29 is an electric motor 30. S i nce each of the units formed by the boring head and its associated motor are identical, both in construction and in mode of operation, it will be necessary to describe but one of these at length.

The boring head is equipped with a. plurality of drill bits 31, forming a drill gang, adapted to bore the desired number of holes in the body of the tie adjacent each end thereof. The drill bits 31 are actuated in unison `by any suitable gearing housed within the boring head and driven from the armature shaft of the electric motor. The units formed by the boring head and its sociated motor are mounted for bodily reciprocation in a vertical dir ction by means of a pair of guide rods 81, 31, which pass through the apertured ears 32, 32', respectively, projecting laterally from the motor housing', the lower ends of the guide rod being anchored to a base plate 33, preferably disposed at the bottom of a shallow pit 35's. nterposed between the base plate 33 and the ears 32, 32 are spiral springs 35, 35 which encircle the guide rods, and also supported on the bed plate immediately below the motor is a buffer 36, preferably made of a resilient material such as rubber or its equivalent. Bolted to the unit 29-30 is a rack bar 37 which meshes with a pinion 3S fixed upon the counter shaft 11.

Bridging the space between the boring heads 29 and 29, and rigidly anchored at its opposite ends thereto is a transversely extending supporting bar a0 upon which is mounted a pair of cylinders l1, 4:1', cooperating with the reciprocating rods 42, l2', respectively, the upper ends of which have bolted thereto the brander frame lf3, preferably formed of insulating material, and surmounting which is the branding arm proper del. Each of the rods Ll2, 42 extends through an apertured cap surmount-ing the open end of the cylinders, and projecting through a guiding' aperture in both the bottoni of the cylinders and the cross bar 40, all as clearly shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings. rlhese rods have fixed thereto immediately adjacent the closure cap for the cylinder an abutment l5 between which and the bottom of the cylinder is interposed a coiled compression spring l-G, normally urging the rod upwardly, and the brander carried thereby, in a direction towards the tie positioned immediately thereabove.

As shown, the brander le is an electric one, the source of electrical supply therefor being taken from the transformer el? conveniently mounted upon the floor at a point intermediate the motors 30, 30.

rllhe guide rails 1, 1, together with the gripping jaws 28, 28, form a convenient and effective combined tie-support and holding device for the ties during operation thereupon by the boring and branding mechanisms.

The operation of the apparatus will new be described. rlhe ties to be treated are fed to the apparatus at the inlet or feed end 3 thereof, and are moved forwardly upon the guide rails 1, 1 to a point where they can be caught by the contact lugs 17 of the conveyor flight 15. The successive ties'are advanced by the conveyor flight over the adzing drums 6, 6', and are trimmed thereby during their passage thereover in an obvious fashion, being delivered in turn after the adzing operation to the next conveyor flight 16 which by means of its contact lugs 18 advance the trimmed ties to a point between the gripping jaws 28, 28.

Assuming the tie 2 to have been advanced sufliciently far to be positioned, as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, and the gripping aws to have been actuated to hold the tie in this position by the mechanism previously referred to, whenever the tie 2 has been advanced sufliciently to be brought into contact with the trip lever 27, by means of the operative connections interposed ybetween the trip lever 27 and the shifting lever 20, the clutch is engaged, thus initiating rotative movement of the portion of the counter shaft 11 carryingthe pinion 38, Rotation of pinion 38 which meshes with the rack 37 causes bodily movement upwardly of the units 29-30 and 29-30, bringing the drill gangs into operation and effooting the desired boring of the tie. After the boring operation has been completed, the lug strikes the free end of the lever 26, and through its operative connections with the gear shift lever 20 disengages the clutch 19, whereupon, the units 29-30 and 29-30 return under the influence of gravity to the relative positions shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, with the tips of the drill bits 31 located slightly below the face of the tie. During such descent, the springs 35, 35 and the buffer block 36 serve as cushion- `ing means in bringing the several parts to their inactive stationary position. After the bits 31 have been withdrawn from the tie, the gripping jaws 28, 28 are released, and swung to a position whereby to receive the next succeeding tie to be operated upon which upon reaching a point intermediate the jaws is gripped thereby and held in position for the next boring operation initiated in like fashion by the passage of the tie 2 over the trip lever 27, tie 2 having been advanced to this point by this time by the conveying portions of the apparatus.

During the rise of the boring heads 29, 29, the transverse bar l-O is carried upwardly therewith, causing the brander la to be brought into contact with the face of the tie intermediate the drill gangs. As soon as the brander 44 touches the tie, the branding` operation begins, and is continued until after the descent of the boring heads has reached a point sufficient to move the brander out of contact with the tie. It is obvious that the depth of the branding is small in comparison with the travel of the drill bits 31 in effecting the boring operation. The difference between the travel of the brander and the drill heads is accommodated due to the resilient mounting of the brander by means of thereciprocating rods L12, 42 within the cylinders 4141, the springs within the cylinders being compressed to permit a greater upward travel of the drill bits than the branding iron, and at the same time effectively functioning as a means of continually pressing the brander into operative contact with the tie during a period sufhciently long to effect the desired depth of branding, and without in any way endangering breakage of the several parts, or altering the normal functioning of the remaining` portions of the machine.

It is thus seen that the invention provides a simple, compact, and highly eiiicient apparatus for adzing, boring and branding ties, one in which the same mechanism is employed for supporting and holding the tie in position during the boring operation serves to position the tie for the application of the brander, one in which the boring and branding take place concurrently by coordinated mechanisms actuated in timed relation to each other and from the same power source, without adding :materially to the cost of operation, without necessitating radical changes in apparatus heretofore used for adzing and boring, and without giving rise to the objectionable, alterations in the ordinaryfunctioning of the adzing and boring porti-ons of the apparatus. It is also noted that the disposition and coordination of the branding device with the boring heads enable the branding to be accomplished on the top face of the tie as ultimately used, at a location enabling the markings to be readily inspected without the removal of ballast, heretofore necessary in connection with the end markings as commonly used, and as previously des'- cribed. i

As required by the patent statutes, the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described. It is obvious, however, that :many changes in details and in the arrangement of parts may 1 be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, and it is therefore not intended to limit the invention beyond that particularly deiinedby the appended claims.

l claim:

1. In a combined adzing and boring machine for railway ties and the like, the cozmbinationwith a boring head adapted for movement in the direction of the ties, of a branding device associated therewith, said branding device being adapted to act upon the ties to brand the. same during the operation of said boring head.

2. In a combined adzing and boring machine for railway ties and the like, the

combination with a plurality of boring` heads adapted for movement in Jche direction of the ties, of a branding device mounted to be: movable with said boringl heads, said brandingdevice being adapted to act upon the ties din-ing the operation of said boring` head.

3. ln a combined adzing and boring machine for railway ties and the like, Jche combination with a plurality of boring` heace adapted for movement in he direction of the ties= of a transverse bai' supported by said boring heads, a branding device mounted on said transverse bai', and means ioi rendering said branding device operai/ive to act upon the ties during the operation ol said boring heads.

En a combined adzing and boi-ing mahine foi' railway 'des and the like, the Coinbination 'with a boring head adapted for movemenI in the direction of the ties, oi" a bianding device associated therewih, and means for anton atically icndei'ing said branding device oliei'ative dining Jdie operati-on of the boring and adzing inechanisnl.

In testimony whereof, l eign my name.

GRANT B. SHPLY. 

